Emails on the subject
The author sent this email to DERBYSGEN, and received
the following reply from Dave Johnson:
Hello Folks,
There is a curious error in the 1841 Census for Bonsall.
Pages 7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15, and 16 (33-38) are in correct order on the
microfilm.
Nevertheless, the entries were written in the wrong order before the pages
were bound.
The result is that several families are 'split' where pages meet.
The families affected are WIGLEY (2), CHARLESWORTH and GRATTON.
The correct page order for (33-38) is 7,14,15,12,13,10,11,8,9,16.
This order has the effect of joining up the split families.
The two WIGLEY families that were split have been checked on the IGI that
parents are followed by the right children, as both families had moved out
of Bonsall
by 1851.
If you have not the slightest idea what I'm talking about, scroll down
www.wirksworth.org/C41-03.htm which has been
corrected for this error. A picture is worth a thousand words!
This error was brought to my attention by John Copley of Fleet, Hampshire,
to whom many thanks are due for his sharp eye.
Best wishes,
John Palmer, Dorset, England
Author of Wirksworth website
www.wirksworth.org.uk
Dave Johnson writes:
Dear John,
Your recent email on this subject recalled for me an incident that
happened in Ilkeston in the mid-1850's and has helped me add a little
more background to it.
One of the families mentioned in your email was 'Wigley' and I took
another look at the Bonsall census on your web-site. It now shows a
family of
>Patrick and Hannah Wigley with several
other Wigleys
including Annis, aged 15 and Dinah, aged 2, both of whom might seem at
first sight to be daughters.
However it may well be that both Annis and Dinah made their way to
Ilkeston, Derbyshire via Basford, Notts. On the 1851 census, at Nottingham
Rd, Ilkeston is the household of James Smith, aged 41, unmarried framework
knitter, born in Bolsover, with his daughter Hannah, aged 1, born in
Nottingham. Also with him are three 'Inmates', Annace Wigley, aged 28,
fwk, born in Bonsall, Diner, aged 13, also born in Bonsall, and John,
aged 3 born in Basford.
Records show that shortly after this census Annis had (more?) children,
born at Ilkeston....i.e. William born Oct 5 1851, Charles born Mar 21 1854
and Patrick Ward Wigley born Oct 17 1856.
Apparently they had a tough start in life. The Ilkeston Pioneer newspaper
of April 23 1857 has a short article under the heading of
'Starvation of three children'....
'For some time there has been living near the Toll Bar a woman named
Anise Wigley, or Wheatley, a native of Bonsall, who has had several
illegitimate children. The eldest about 7 years and a half old, has acted
as a prig [a tinker or thief] for the family; the three next in age have been literally
famished, worked, and confined, till they are reduced to the saddest
spectacles of destitution ever witnessed in Ilkeston. Several rumours
have obtained public currency, respecting the mother's criminal neglect,
and inhuman treatment of her family. Mr. Small, the constable, and another
parish officer forced an entrance into the room where they were confined,
and took them in charge, preparatory to them being sent to the workhouse.
That the public may judge of the necessity there existed for the
interference of parochial authority, we append the ages and weights of
the children.....
Charles, aged 3 and a half years, weighed 17 lbs
William aged 5 years weighed 22 and a half lbs
Hannah aged 6 years weighed 26 lbs
Infant child not 6 months old weighed 19 and a half lbs
The children were employed in sewing hose, and the mother's object
appears to have been to pine them to death, and while doing so, to work
their fingers while life remained. We understand the inhuman wretch has
suddenly left the town'.
A few weeks later, the June 11 edition of the same newspaper had a
follow-up article under the heading:
'The case of Starvation at Ilkeston'.
'The children belonging to that inhuman mother, Anis Wigley, were removed,
under magistrates' orders, from Basford Workhouse to Bonsall last Saturday.
They were very much improved by the treatment at the workhouse, and were
well sunburnt, which showed they had been in the fresh air. About six
weeks ago Hannah, aged 8 years, weighed 26lbs, is now 34lbs weight;
William , aged 6, was 22 and a half lbs, is now 32; Charles, aged 5, was
17lbs, is now 24. This certainly speaks well for the treatment these poor
children have received in Basford Workhouse'.
(and it also shows how the whole experience has aged some of them
prematurely ??!!)
I wonder what their life was like after this, and what happened to them
and to their mother.
Best wishes,
Dave Johnson.
|
|
|
.
All Rights Reserved.